Chapter 329: The Baby Is Kicking My Tummy

The applause didn't fully die down until Bai Liang came down from the stage with the trophy and returned to his seat.

It was hard to tell whether his fans in the audience were just hyping things up, or whether it was because he'd delivered the best acceptance speech of the night.

If acceptance speeches could win awards too, Bai Liang could've walked off with another trophy tonight.

"Just now, standing on that stage, you looked like you were glowing."

"That is the greatest compliment I'll receive tonight — far more important than this trophy."

Mm. How cheesy~

Still, Reba felt an inexplicable delight in her heart~

What girl doesn't love hearing something like that?

Pressing her lips together, she confirmed once more: "Really?"

"If you don't believe me, should I smash this thing right now so you can hear it go bang?"

"No, no, no — are you a child or what?"

Reba shot him a look, thinking to herself that boys, no matter their age, always had a touch of the childish.

She carefully took the golden cup from Bai Liang's hands and examined it up and down.

"Like it? It's yours."

"I do like it, sure, but you have to be worthy of it for it to truly be yours — what does it count if you just give it to me?"

Before Bai Liang could answer, Reba took a deep breath. "Then are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"The doubts online~"

"Not in the slightest. How about we figure out what to eat when we get back tonight instead?"

"Can we discuss something a little more important?"

"Eating is the most important thing~"

Looking at Bai Liang's utterly relaxed expression, Reba felt an inexplicable pang of guilt.

She kept getting this strange déjà vu feeling that he'd taken a hit meant for her.

Judging by the Golden Eagle Awards' attitude and the hints they'd dropped beforehand, their desire to embrace traffic was painfully obvious.

She dared to make a bold judgment: if Bai Liang hadn't taken the Best Actor tonight, she most likely would've walked away with the Best Actress trophy.

Freed from the anxiety of chasing the Best Actress prize, she could now look at this honey-coated arsenic with far more objectivity.

If she had been the one to take this thing, her reputation probably would've collapsed on the spot.

Bai Liang had his rivals — and so did she.

Moreover, she didn't possess Bai Liang's absurd dominance, the ability to pin his fellow nominees to the mat.

Rather than saying those people wanted to target him, it was more accurate to say they were afraid of him.

And Dilireba didn't have that kind of ability — she had traffic, and almost nothing but traffic.

"No matter what, you've still got me. I'll protect you!"

Hearing those words, Bai Liang froze for a moment, suddenly wanting to tell Han Han that the line from his movie was actually fine.

The softer the voice, the greater the presence.

He smiled at Reba, then spread his hands in a little bear shrug. "See? Told you my luck was great~"

Which, translated, meant: having you is my luck~

This move worked wonders on Reba.

All that cutesy-cooing nonsense — Gulnazar's style really wasn't for her!

Though acting coy every now and then did feel pretty nice, this was her real arena.

The final award of the night was the Most Popular Actor and Actress Award.

In other words, that crystal cup.

Without the slightest surprise, Bai Liang took home both cups, cementing himself as this year's undisputed Golden Eagle Best Actor.

Just like Hu Ge the year before.

According to real-time data and post-event statistics, after the news of Bai Liang winning the Best Actor golden cup went viral online, this year's Golden Eagle Awards saw its viewership ratings skyrocket.

It peaked when he and Reba walked up to accept the crystal cup hand in hand.

The lowest viewership of the entire show hovered around 0.3, yet the highest actually broke 2!

With the Golden Eagle Awards' ratings plummeting year after year, this year finally managed an upward reversal.

At least from this angle, the path of embracing traffic clearly hadn't been the wrong one.

That said, the inevitable controversy was still unavoidable.

Forget the internet — even offline, there were media outlets itching to stir up trouble.

During the post-stage press interview, some media outlets came out with less-than-friendly questions.

The fire was naturally aimed at Bai Liang — after all, he had both cups in hand, leaving little interest in any controversy over Reba's crystal cup.

But Young Lady Reba was true to her word!

Bai Liang didn't exactly have the habit of furrowing his brow and stepping back behind the crowd.

But he couldn't stop Reba from stepping forward, insisting on shielding him from the storm.

Honestly, even though Bai Liang wasn't afraid of so-called storms and tempests, being protected by a girl — only those who've experienced it know how good it feels.

Even though he was doing better and better in the entertainment industry now, Bai Liang's instinct was still: a rich woman shielding me!

"I think his Best Actor is well-deserved!"

"So what if he's young? That only proves his talent on the path of acting!"

"He's the goal I've always been learning from and chasing — I always have to look up to see him."

"The first award? Huh?!"

After being reminded that the Golden Eagle Best Actor was actually Bai Liang's very first performance award, Reba also froze for a moment.

There's even such a thing?

Bai Liang: I debuted kind of late, after all~

But to keep Reba from feeling awkward, he helped smooth things over and added a reminder, "I've also won the Weibo Best Actor."

"Right! He's also won the Weibo Best Actor. What the heck?!"

Reba looked as if she'd seen a ghost, barely managing to hold her expression together.

Weibo Best Actor? What's that thing even good for?

Bai Liang: Who says it's no good~

That very night, Weibo went absolutely wild!

Love posting? Love stirring up trouble?

Drop dead!

Countless marketing accounts that had been pushing the "Bai Liang Water Emperor" narrative were directly hit hard.

Some were still sitting there clacking away at their keyboards, and mid-keystroke they went wide-eyed in shock.

Heheh, say goodbye to your account.

Appeal? Appeals are useless too!

Weibo's side stated that everything they did was strictly in accordance with the rules and regulations—didn't you read the user guidelines when you registered your account?

You really thought the account belonged to you? You personally clicked "Agree" when you signed up, didn't you?

This wave of dimensional-strike suppression from the permission dogs left plenty of marketing accounts and entertainment media tingling all over.

Holy crap!

Sister Yanzi stood there drawing her sword and looking around in bewilderment, feeling like she hadn't really fought at all before her opponent vanished!

Alright, alright, at this point who could possibly not suspect that Bai Liang is Weibo's own darling son?

It wasn't until she got a call from Xiao Shui that she roughly figured out what was going on.

Weibo higher-ups: We're dead set on backing Bai Liang! If you're not happy, go next door~

Can't be helped—Bai Liang keeps the Weibo Best Actor title on his lips every single day, who could possibly withstand that?

Of course, that's only one of the reasons.

In any case, at this year's Weibo Night, even if Bai Liang is swamped with work, he still has to show up and give them massive support.

As for how many girls to bring~

Weibo: The more the merrier, dear!

With the negative-pushing marketing accounts gone and a bunch of marketing accounts pushing positive narratives instead, the "Water Emperor" narrative that had originally worried Reba so much—heheh—never even got off the ground. At least for these next two days, don't count on stirring up any storm; over at Weibo right now a bunch of people are working overtime, intensely monitoring those marketing accounts.

But the funny thing is, the top trending topic right now isn't about Bai Liang winning the Golden Eagle Best Actor.

Instead, it's his acceptance speech.

An acceptance speech capable of "conquering" even Teacher He is naturally capable of conquering the vast netizen population as well.

Does this world rush to hear stories of young success?

On stage, Bai Liang modestly stated: A young person's path must be walked slowly.

But online, Bai Liang stated: If you're not brash and fiery, can you still be called young?

A photo of him holding the trophy together with Reba, captioned:

The next ten years are already beckoning!

Tonight's only theme is one thing—that is—being in high spirits!

"The Great Immortal's fancy talk really hits different when it's cultured! This is the real dimensional strike, isn't it~"

"Two trophies in hand, laughing at the mad dogs!"

"What mad dogs? Brother Bai Liang, this Best Actor win is fully deserved—I haven't seen anyone jump out to question it."

"So many industry artists posted on Weibo to congratulate him. Clearly everyone's perception is the same: he deserves it, recognized inside and outside the industry."

!

"Pfft, more than deserves it. The Great Immortal might not need this Golden Eagle Best Actor, but the Golden Eagle Awards really need the Great Immortal's traffic."

"He should have won Best Actor long ago! He was never some traffic star relying on looks and visuals—this guy's acting is terrifying. Otherwise, what do you think he's been using to crush the younger generation so thoroughly?"

"You all only care about the Great Immortal winning the Golden Eagle Best Actor. Unlike you, what I care about is whether the Great Immortal can handle tonight. Look at the way Reba is staring at the Great Immortal in that photo—feels like she's about to eat him alive~ Tonight is definitely going to be a sleepless night."

"The reflection on the trophy looks like they're at a hotel—did these two go get a room? Reba, nooo."

"Promise me, Reba, make him wear it, okay? If he wears it, it doesn't count as giving~"

"."

Netizens are truly freaking Sherlock Holmes.

Bai Liang was also dumbfounded. It was just one photo, and he had even deliberately picked a simple background, thinking surely nobody would be able to figure it out.

But the result was that a group of big-shots frantically dug in and recognized that the place where Bai Liang and Reba were was a suite at the Grand Hyatt hotel.

Reba was even forced to "clarify," saying that everyone was having a celebration banquet together tonight, with assistants and managers all present and so on.

This point applies to both sides' boyfriend-fans and girlfriend-fans, aside from the CP fans.

Of course, it didn't really blow up either.

Because the weight of Bai Liang's words still held: there's nothing more important than eating.

But most of it was wasted—clearly it wasn't enough.

She was so hungry she was about to pass out.

So at this moment, the two really were holding a "celebration banquet," having ordered a pile of delicious food.

Reba finally took off that gown and changed into loose pajamas, letting herself go for once.

Her cheeks were stuffed out like a little squirrel's.

"This one's delicious!"

"While you were talking, I'd already eaten half of it."

"Aiya, save some for me, will you~"

They ate ravenously, and this time Reba's little belly really did puff out — no longer because of a woman's natural build, but because she'd stuffed herself silly.

After eating, she lay snugly in Bai Liang's arms, rubbing her belly and scrolling through her phone, savoring a rare moment of leisure.

Because tomorrow neither of them had to "go to work."

A holiday like this should be spent where it counts most.

"Hey, listen, the baby's kicking my belly~"

Lines like that could scare off more than half the scumbags out there.

Luckily Bai Liang wasn't fazed — he reached over, rubbed Reba's belly, then gave it a little pat.

"Tsk, that sound's pretty crisp — if it sounds good, it's a good melon!"

"It's not that exaggerated, geez. That Wang Sicong, he's still cursing Wu Xiubo — what grudge do those two have against each other?"

The hottest topic tonight was, of course, Bai Liang taking the Golden Eagle Best Actor award, but Wang Sicong, thanks to his foul-mouthed provocations, had somehow carved out his own spot on the trending searches.

This made Reba a little annoyed watching it.

On "Jin Da Xi"'s big day, everyone else is paying attention to the Golden Eagle Best Actor, everyone's hyping Bai Liang — and here you are, jumping around like an odd one out, huh?

Pain in the eye just watching it!

Could it be that Wu Xiubo's behavior messed with his game?

To be honest, if it weren't for Wang Sicong — the son of a super-rich tycoon with sky-high attention — jumping around over there, Wu Xiubo's scandal wouldn't have blown up this big.

Earlier, when the story first peeked its head out, the trending searches were quickly taken down with money.

At that time, Wu Xiubo probably still wanted to keep a low profile and let it blow over, still holding onto some slim hope for his acting career and all that.

People are just like that.

But after Wang Sicong's round of provocations, the story obviously couldn't be hidden anymore.

In a way, Wang Sicong — who loves jumping around on Weibo and acting as the entertainment circle's discipline inspector — is also a "top-tier celebrity."

Bai Liang glanced over and actually spotted the blind spot.

"Hey~ 'Love Saint 2.'"

Hearing that, Reba tilted her head up curiously to look at Bai Liang's chin. "What about it?"

"It's a Spring Festival film this year, starring Wu Xiubo. If Wang Sicong hadn't blown this up like this, the movie might've been able to sneak into theaters quietly. Now with all this fuss, it'll probably be pulled from the schedule."

"Isn't that pretty normal?" Reba said, puzzled.

"Not normal at all. 'Love Saint 2' is a Wanda investment."

"Huh? Is he crazy? Stirring up his own family's business?"

"Guess where the money for 'Love Saint 2' was pulled from?" Bai Liang said with a smile.

At this point, Reba naturally had a flash of inspiration. "It wouldn't be the money pulled out of 'The Wandering Earth,' would it?"

"Bingo!"

Now Reba's expression turned truly strange.

Especially after learning that, although Wanda had pulled its investment from 'The Wandering Earth,' Wang Sicong himself had been squeezed by Bai Liang into personally shelling out some money to invest — she really didn't know what to say.

Good lord!

The Spring Festival movie "battle" had actually started from such a bizarre angle.

And that Young Master Wang really is a strange breed — first "sacrificing" a movie his own family invested in, huh?

"Honestly, 'Love Saint 2' might still be 'The Wandering Earth's' biggest competitor," Bai Liang said, his expression also a little odd.

"Why do you say that? I see there's also 'Pegasus,' 'Crazy Alien,' and even Zhou Xingchi and Jackie Chan's new movie."

"Wanda's screening slots, of course!"

To be fair, Bai Liang felt that besides kowtowing to himself, Guo Fan should also kowtow to Young Master Wang now.

What kind of realm is that guy in?

His family's money and his own money — he keeps them damn well separated.

With 'Love Saint 2' as a sacrifice, even if the people at Wanda are cursing Young Master Wang in their hearts, when the time comes they'll still have to hold their noses and give it the screening slots.

The son can sell off his father's land without a care, but can the people under him dare not give Young Master Wang face?

This move can only be described as peak performance.

Guo Fan kowtowing to him is completely justified.

Young Master Wang is righteous!

To make sure his judgment wasn't off, Bai Liang even gave Wang Sicong a call to ask about it.

The guy just said: Huh? There's that too?

F*ck~

Turns out he hadn't thought that much about it at all — the guy's just a pure troll.

(End of chapter)